Notice: the
biographical notes are only a working instrument
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WOELKI Card. Rainer Maria

Cardinal Rainer Maria
Woelki, Archbishop of Berlin, was born on 18 August 1956 in
Cologne, Germany.

He was ordained a priest on 14 June 1985. He
holds a doctorate in theology. From 1985 until 1989 he served as
parish vicar at St. Marien in Neuss. In 1989 he was appointed military
chaplain in Münster and in 1990 parish vicar at St. Joseph’s in
Ratingen.

In 1990 he was appointed secretary of the
Archbishop of Cologne.

In 1997 he became director of the Collegium
Albertinum in Bonn for the seminarians studying theology at the
University of Bonn.

On 24 February 2003 he was appointed titular
Bishop of Scampa and Auxiliary of Cologne. He received episcopal
ordination on 30 March 2003.

On 2 July 2011 he was appointed Archbishop of
Berlin. Less than a month after being installed as Archbishop he
welcomed Benedict XVI on the Pope’s third Visit to his homeland.

Created and proclaimed Cardinal by Benedict
XVI in the consistory of 18 February 2012, of the Title of San
Giovanni Maria Vianney (St. John Vianney).